Writing Janeway out of the series -- what are your thoughts?

Kate Mulgrew was reportedly in fierce negotiations about her contract renewal after season six, namely that everybody else had signed up and it looked for a little while like she wouldn't. From an interview published at 'Get Critical':

During the past three months, Mulgrew got married to Ohio politician Tim Hagan, then signed a long-debated contract to appear for a seventh season on Star Trek Voyager.

"So much has happened to me in the past year to make me realize that time is very precious," she said the week before shooting commenced for Voyager's fall episodes. "I was prepared to make some very significant changes at Voyager if my bosses were not inclined to acknowledge my need for time."

Negotiations were reportedly tough - at one point Mulgrew announced to a roomful of reporters that she wished Janeway would go out in a coffin, leading to a flurry of retractions. Yet the actress now believes she can balance another two years of the weekly series with her desire to get back to the theater, and with her devotion to a family that now includes two stepdaughters as well as her own children.

Though Mulgrew admits she came very close to leaving Voyager, her character gave her inspiration to stay. "My big conflict throughout this renegotiation was that Janeway would not renege. She would complete this mission. And that's what I'm going to do."

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Now, obviously she did, as it says, ultimately sign up for season seven. But... what if she didn't? How would you have liked to have seen her written out of the show? How do you think it would have shook up the cast dynamic going into year seven?

Personally, I'm glad she didn't leave (I like Mulgrew), and I can't for the life of me imagine a version of the show where Chakotay is promoted to top tier. Nor would I want to. So, maybe one of the other characters is made Captain... who, I don't know. Tuvok? He'd be the next in the chain of command. Or maybe the EMH could have made his 'Emergency Command Hologram' permanent?

As for how she could be written out, I'd almost like to have seen her survive, but branch out on her own with a group of others. Payback on the aborted potential of the 'Maquis' storyline by creating a schism among the ranks about how to get home, with Janeway and her supporters going off in the Delta Flyer, while our 'regulars' continue in their own way. There were hints of this kind of thing: wasn't there some friction between her and Chakotay in "Equinox" part two, for example? Or am I thinking of another episode? Something to do with the Captain being holed up in her quarters for weeks and morale on the ship being at an all time low.

And then, of course, they could always have brought her back as a 'special surprise' in Endgame. Or not.

I would like to see her abducted by a rogue faction of the Time Police and dumped in Captain Kirk's quarters. Imagine the future she could offer him with all she knew.. and he would have to win it out of her because she would resist breaking the temporal prime directive. But in order save him from some space peril she would do so.

But Noah went on to be a Cylon, the First Vampire in Supernatural (Who the Winchesters had tied to an old fashioned electric chair and they were hammering stakes into his hands looking for answers.) and the current mayor of Mystic Falls in Vampire Diaries.

This whole hissy fit happened between Equinox One and Two.

"She agreed to sign on for another two years".

TPTB had planned to replace Janeway with Captain Ransom who somehow redeemed himself in a revised Equinox we never saw, and got to queue jump ahead of Chuckels to Captain Voyager despite being a monster who did horrible things.

Seeing as how Captain uniforms aren't skin tight and Starfleet has discontinued the skant, then Seven couldn't be made Captain.

Chakotay would be "promoted" to command the ship but Seven would remain in the lead role with the Doctor as her sidekick. All other characters would be relegated to guest appearances on every third episode, as Voyager waged a successful war against the Borg Collective, each week using new and previously unknown tricks and abilities Seven possesses.

Janeway would be guilty that the Ocampa would be running out of food, water and power by that point in the adventure, that she did nothing about it while she was on site, because she was running from the invisible threat of kazon reinforcements.

Kes had weeks to live.

Whatever star drive Kes was using that could cross 30 thousand lightyears in less time than it takes an Ocampa dying of old age to die of old age, would have gotten Voyager home in days but Janeway was too mistied eyed to enquire after the tech or ask for a lift back to earth first.

Regarding writing Janeway out. I'm of the space opera school. She could have gone out in a blaze of glory, a suicide run in the Delta Flyer at some critical Borg complex in order to save the ship, perhaps seriously crippling The Collective. Dying in sickbay is not worthy for a captain.

Actually in Fury when Old Kes is getting that escape Shuttle ready for two people I assumed she was going to send Kes off to live happily ever after with Neelix... Not to begin an out of body masturbation consortation.

I'd like to think that, "First Officer" or not, Chuckles' status as technically not being Starfleet anymore could be held against him assuming the top job. The next highest Starfleet officer seems to be Tuvok, though it'd be just our luck to wind up with Harry Kim.

Heck, Tom Paris seems to be able to fill every other role on the ship. Why not Captain as well?